Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Reignites 100MW Offshore Wind Farm on Scottish Coast

The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm will take off from where the original Dounreay Trì Project was expected to be constructed, a demonstrator project being developed to test the viability of offshore wind for the Scottish government and energy industry

Beatrice, a 588MW offshore wind farm in Scotland developed by CIF. Credit: CIF website

Beatrice, a 588MW offshore wind farm in Scotland developed by CIF. Credit: CIF website

In collaboration with Highland Wind Limited and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), a Danish fund management company has announced its plan to build a floating wind farm off the coast of Dounreay in Scotland. Being called the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm (PFOWF), the plant will have a capacity of up to 100MW. Its purpose is to test offshore wind technology by demonstrating the functioning of 6-10 wind turbines installed on a floating structure approximately 6 kilometres off the coast of Dounreay, Caithness in Scotland. This is where the Dounreay Trì floating wind project had originally been planned before it was discontinued.

In addition to the floating wind turbines, the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm will possibly test and demonstrate the viability of a semi-submersible substructure that supports two inclined wind turbines.
The original Dounreay Trì Project was designed to test and demonstrate a two-turbine offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of between 8 and 12 MW.

The floating wind farm also planned to use a single export cable to transmit electricity to the west of the Dounreay Nuclear Site fence line. In addition to powering the nuclear site, electrical infrastructure had been planned to connect the wind farm to the Dounreay 132/33/11kV substation. The Dounreay Trì Project was conceived by a subsidiary of Hexicon AB, a Swedish floating offshore wind farm developer. Consent was granted in 2017 for installation of two turbines and single export cable but the project failed to start construction and missed out on Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC).

CIP is now the majority shareholder and has reignited the project through its newly formed Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) ‘Highland Wind Limited’. The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm project will be developed in the same location as the Dounreay Trì Project and also is in the works to be connected to an electrical substation in the vicinity. Offshore surveys are to begin this week. Funding is expected to be secured by 2024 and commissioning in 2026.

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